CHENNAI: Indian pharmaceutical giant Biocon on Wednesday told the BSE that the US-FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) has issued a Form 483 with six observations for its manufacturing facility in Malaysia.
Normally, the US-FDA issues the Form 483 when an inspection finds conditions in violations of food and drug safety. The company’s management is notified via Form 483 if the US-FDA team’s inspection has found “conditions or practices that any food, drug, device or cosmetic has been adulterated or is being prepared, packed, or held under conditions whereby it may become adulterated or rendered injurious to health.”
Biocon told the BSE that it would come up with a corrective action plan.
“The US-FDA has completed a pre-approval inspection of our manufacturing facility in Malaysia and has issued a Form 483 with six observations. As per the normal expectations of the agency, we intend to respond with a corrective and preventive action plan in a timely manner,” said Rajeev Balakrishnan, company secretary, Biocon.
On its website, Biocon lists its insulin manufacturing facility at Johor, Malaysia, as its first overseas biopharma manufacturing and research unit, started in 2015 with an investment of $275 million.
Biocon Malaysia, which has launched biosimilars such as Basalog and Insugen, started commercial operations in 2017 and has GMP certification from the European Medical Agency.
Biocon already supplies insulin from this plant in Malaysia and expects the insulin supplies to Europe upon product approval.
The company has received USFDA approval for Glargine and the same is likely to have triggered the inspection. The company had also indicated of the same in the recently quarterly earning conference call.
Biocon’s biosimilar version of Roche’s Trastuzumab — a drug to treat breast and stomach cancer — received US FDA approval last December.